This summer I visited the Channellock factory in Meadville, Pennsylvania and got a close up look at good old fashioned American tool manufacturing. They allowed me take photos so I'm sharing them here...

The company was founded in 1886 by a blacksmith named George B DeArment and is owned and operated by the 4th and 5th generations of his family. It makes 125 kinds of pliers and cutters here in the US but is best known for the tongue and groove pliers it developed in the 1930s — that came to be known as channel locks. The pliers were so popular that the company changed its name to Channellock.

During my visit to the factory in Meadville I got to see a variety of tools being made. Click on the slideshows above for photos of the production process (16 photos).